Or Did It?
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Tag-on ending for "Changing Nature", for everyone who didn't like how the episode ended. Earl thought the world had come to an end...or did it?
1. Chapter 1

Or Did It?

AN: In quoting episodes, I worked largely from memory so if any of the lines are wrong, I apologize. Hope you enjoy.

" _Could I have everybody's attention? There's something I have to say."_

" _You're going to coat the entire continent with poison? Isn't there some safer alternative?"_

" _Like what?"_

" _Well…trim back the vines as much as we can, live with a little discomfort, and hope that nature eventually restores the balance."_

" _That's inconvenient and time consuming. My idea is exciting and high tech."_

" _Yeah, but have you tested this stuff to make sure it's safe?"_

" _I know I put too much faith in progress and technology, and had too little respect for nature."_

" _I always knew you'd screw things up, I just didn't know how bad."_

" _It sounds like we'd be declaring war on nature."_

" _Exactly!"_

" _You've destroyed the global food chain! No plants means no food at all!"_

" _But it's so easy to take nature for granted, because it's always there, and technology is so bright and shiny and new."_

" _Unfortunately, once again the task force's latest tactic has gone tragically awry, as thick black clouds of sulfurous gas and soot now surround the entire planet, blotting the sun from the sky and causing global temperatures to drop precipitously. Considering the thickness of the cloud cover, scientists predict it may be tens of thousands of years before the sun shines over Pangaea again."_

" _I think you're missing the point sir, the world may be coming to an end!"_

" _This isn't fair, the one time in my life I find a job I'm good at, and I end up destroying society."_

" _Look, you know about the ecosystem, but I know about dinosaurs, if you're in their way, they'll get rid of you."_

" _Don't worry about me, just go, go on, fly away, go! Good luck, guys! Good luck."_

" _Well Little Guy, what happened was, Daddy was put in charge of the world, and he didn't take real good care of it. And now it looks like there's not going to be much of a world for you and your brother and sister to live in."_

" _There's no place to move to, this is the only world we've got."_

" _This is Howard Handupme, saying goodnight…and goodbye."_

"No! No! No! It can't be over! It just _can't_ be!"

"Wha…huh?" Fran opened her eyes and realized Earl was talking, so she reached over and turned on her bedside lamp, and saw Earl thrashing around on the other side of the bed talking in his sleep.

"Fran! Charlene! Robbie! Baby!"

"Earl," Fran shook the mighty megalosaurus and tried to wake him up, "Earl! Earl! Wake up!"

Earl shot up on his side of the bed screaming as he opened his eyes. He looked around the room wide-eyed and exclaimed, "Fran! You're here! And…and…" he looked around the room again and noticed, "And it's not freezing in here!"

"Uh…no, Earl," she replied, "It's May, remember?"

"May! May! The beetles!" Earl recalled, "The bunch beetles!"

"Yes, Earl," Fran said, remaining calm despite his constant outbursts, "They came today during our family barbecue and ate the cider poppies, don't you remember?"

"No, I don't," Earl said, and hopped up out of bed, "Where're the kids?" He headed over to the door and ran out into the hall screaming, "Robbie! Charlene! Baby!"

The upstairs floor vibrated under Earl's weight as he ran down the hall, and came to the door to Robbie's room and threw it open, screaming, "ROOOOOB-BIE!"

"Huh, wha?" Robbie tiredly opened his eyes and sat up on his hammock bed and asked, "What'd I do now?"

Instead of an answer, he watched as his dad turned and left the doorway and ran down the hall, calling, "Charlene!"

"Weird," Robbie murmured.

Earl threw open his daughter's bedroom door and bellowed in, "CHARLENE!"

"AHHHH!" Charlene shot up in her bed with a jolt and pulled back the curtain on her bed and glared at her father in the doorway and asked, "Daddy, _what_ is it?"

Instead, Earl turned and was gone again, this time running to the baby's room.

Inside his room, Baby Sinclair was sitting up in his crib with his head slumped over as he slept peacefully, then the door was thrown up and Earl called into the room, "Junior! Baby!"

Baby opened one eye in a scowl and looked to the door and said, "Not the Mama!"

"Yeah, that's me, Little Guy!" Earl said as he went over to the crib and picked his son up.

"Easy! Watch it!" Baby told him, not appreciating the rude wakeup call.

By now, Fran and the older kids had followed Earl down the hall.

"Earl, calm down!" Fran said as she came into the room, "What's the matter?"

"Fran, Fran," Earl looked at her, "Where's Ethyl? Where's your mother?"

"Mom's downstairs sleeping on the couch," Fran answered, getting tired of this runaround, "Earl, what is…"

"Here, take the kid," Earl handed her Baby and moved past the kids and went screaming out into the hall, "ETHYL!"

Robbie and Charlene walked up to their mother and the three of them shared a mutual look.

"Mom, is it me or does Daddy seem to be losing his mind?" Charlene asked, still trying to keep her eyes open.

"I think we better follow him and find out what's wrong," Fran told her children.

"He's a quack!" Baby declared as he clung to his mama.

* * *

"ETHYL!" for the first time in his life, Earl ran down the stairs and risked missing a step and falling the rest of the way down but he didn't care. He threw on the lights as he went and came over to his mother-in-law, who had been laid out on the couch, snoring like a jumbo jet. Her breath caught in mid-snore and she awoke with a small choke, and realized Earl was in the room with her.

"Oh, it's you, _Fat Boy_ ," she sneered, "What do you want?"

"Ethyl! You're alive!" Earl leaned down and grabbed the 75-year-old dinosaur and kissed her.

"AH! Don't _touch_ me!" Ethyl found her cane and beat Earl with it, "What's the matter with you?" she hit him again, "Have you lost your mind?" and again.

By this time, the others had caught up with Earl though kept their distance and watched from the foot of the stairs, Robbie and Charlene with mildly amused looks on their faces.

"Ethyl, it is _so_ good to have you here to hit me," Earl told her.

Ethyl's eyes bulged and she almost dropped her cane, " _What_?"

"Earl," Fran said as she walked up to him, "What is this all about?"

Unfortunately they still didn't get an answer because a new idea came to Earl and he charged for the door exclaiming, "Swamp! I gotta find the swamp! I must find the swamp! Swamp's gotta be there!" and he tore off into the night.

Baby continued to cling to Fran and he threw his head back and laughed so hard before burying it in her shoulder, and picking it up again and telling his mama, "He's _funny_!"

"Mom, what do you think's gotten into Dad?" Robbie asked.

Fran shook her head, "I don't know…get your coats, we'll take the car and follow him, and maybe we'll get to the bottom of this."

* * *

"Flashlight, I should've brought a flashlight," Earl grumbled to himself as he walked back home covered up to his armpits in swamp muck.

He'd found the swamp alright, it was right there where it always was, no WeSaySo fruit wax factory paved over it, nothing but the swamp and a few leftover bunch beetles that were still mating and in so making a racket loud enough to wake the dead, them and the swamp, and 12 feet deep of muck in the shallow end that Earl had sunk in after tripping over a log. He'd managed to pull himself out, but he was going to reek to high heaven long before he got home.

Up ahead Earl saw two blinding lights and realized it was his car, and Fran was driving it. The car pulled to a stop when she saw him, and he stood there and watched as she got out of the car, followed by the kids, Charlene was holding Baby on her hip.

"Now," Fran said as she walked up to her husband, "Do you want to tell us what's going on…or do we have you committed?"

Earl let out a huge sigh and sat on his haunches and told her, "I just had to see that everything was still here, and everything was alright. Frannie, I had the _worst_ nightmare of my entire life."

"Wow," Charlene said, "Worse than the one where the doughnut tried to eat _you_?"

"Oh, Princess," Earl shook his head, "You can't begin to imagine how awful it was." He looked to Fran and told her, "I thought I'd never see any of you again."

Fran placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with her assuring eyes, and she asked him, "Are you feeling better _now_ , Earl?"

"Well," he said, "I still feel like I could have a heart attack, especially after doing the 100 yard dash out here, but…" he looked around at all of them and said, "Yeah, I guess I do." He looked to Fran and said, "I'm ready to come home, I'll tell you all about it when we get back."

"Alright, Earl," Fran said, and added, "But you're not getting in the car like _that_."

Earl looked down at his body that was ¾ covered in swamp muck and said, "Yeah, I know…you take the car, I'll walk back."

That got a surprised reaction from everyone.

"You, Dad?" Robbie asked, "You're going to _walk_ all the way back home?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I'd like that…" he looked to the sky and said, "It'll give me a chance to look at the stars."

Charlene used her free hand to grab Fran to get her attention and murmured through her teeth, "He _has_ gone crazy."

Fran patted her daughter on the shoulder and said, "I think this is something he has to work through by himself." Louder so they all could hear she added, "Come on, kids, get in the car."

Earl gave a small wave as he watched Fran turn the car around and head back for the house. Earl looked up at the night sky, and saw millions of stars. Stars, sky, he could even see treetops up there…past the darkness of the night, up there was a blue, blue sky, and tomorrow the sun would come up and shine, just like yesterday, good old yesterday. He _hadn't_ turned the planet into an icy graveyard after all, and the relief this knowledge brought was tremendous.

Now though, he was going to have to relive that consuming feeling of dread as he explained to his family, just what had happened this night.


	2. Chapter 2

Fran opened the window and held out one of Earl's spare shirts and called out to her husband who was hosing himself off in the yard. "Here you go, Earl!"

"Thanks, Fran," Earl's hand reached from around a tree and took it, "I'll be in in a minute."

"Okay," she told him, and closed the window.

"Frannie," Ethyl said, now in her robe and seated in her wheelchair, "What's the number for the mental hospital?"

Charlene laughed a little where she was seated on the couch.

"Mother," Fran said as she walked into the middle of the living room, "Earl had a nightmare."

"Please, Fran," Ethyl said, "The only time I ever saw your father Louie act like that was when he tied too many over at your cousin Hilda's wedding."

"I don't know," Robbie said as he sat down beside Charlene and folded his arms, "Dad _was_ acting pretty weird."

"Yeah, more than usual," Charlene agreed.

The front door opened and Earl stepped in and in a drained tone said, "Hello, my family that I love."

"Alright, Earl, now what's all this about?" Fran asked.

"Yeah, Dad, what happened?" Robbie asked.

Earl went over to his chair but didn't sit in it, instead he stood as he addressed his family and told them, "I had _the_ worst nightmare _any_ dinosaur on this earth could ever have." He looked around at his family and told them solemnly, "I dreamt the world came to an end, and the worst part was," he pointed a thumb back at himself, "I helped make it happen."

"That's not surprising," Ethyl said cynically, "You ruin everything you touch."

"Mother, that's enough," Fran told her, "What do you mean you helped make the world end, Earl?"

Earl paced a little as he explained, "I dreamt it was time for the bunch beetles to come and eat the poppies, and they never came…the flowers grew out of control and nothing could slow them down, so Mr. Richfield decided to spray them with poison…but it killed every other plant on the planet as well. So then he got the idea if we could make it rain, the plants would grow again…and he decided to make it rain we'd bomb volcanoes and force them to become active, figuring the clouds that came out of them would produce rain…but all they did was block out the sun, and the temperature dropped, and it snowed, and they said on the TV that the sun wouldn't come out again for thousands of years…it was just awful."

"Oh wow," Robbie and Charlene looked to each other.

"That _was_ a nightmare, Earl," Fran said, "But it was _just_ a nightmare."

"But it was so real, Frannie," he told her, "We were all trapped in the house, wondering what would happen, and when it would happen…" he looked to all of his family again and explained, "We found out that the reason the beetles didn't come to eat the poppies, is because WeSaySo had killed them all, they'd paved over the swamp and built a wax fruit factory, and sprayed all the beetles when they went out there to mate. Only one of them survived, and he came here, and it was Charlene that figured everything out and went on TV trying to warn everybody…but I wouldn't listen."

"Charlene took an interest in the environment?" Robbie asked, "That _had_ to be a dream."

Charlene elbowed him and told him, "Cut it out."

"That's enough out of both of you," Earl told them firmly, "After what I just went through, I don't want to hear any of your petty bickering."

"Sorry, Dad," Charlene said quietly.

Earl breathed hard and said, "When I thought that we weren't going to survive…when I thought that the whole planet was going to be buried in ice and snow, and we'd _never_ see the sun again…it was horrible."

"But it's over now, Earl," Fran told him.

"I know, Fran," Earl replied, "But it seemed _so_ real…and now I'm wondering. _How_ easy would it be for it _to_ become real? We know that Mr. Richfield never lets anything get in the way of his company's progress, and that _does_ include lower forms of life on this planet." Earl paused and shook his head and said, "And how many times did I _help_ him contribute to the possible end of civilization? I helped him unload toxic waste in our own backyard."

"But you made amends for that, Dad," Robbie said.

"Yeah, but only because you tricked me," Earl said as he paced around the floor, "And I handed the last two Grapdelites over to him, foolishly thinking the company knew what it was doing and would take care of them."

"But he didn't eat the _last_ two, Daddy," Charlene spoke up, "They made babies, and we kept them here until they were old enough to be turned out into the wilderness, where they knew to hide where nobody would look for them."

"She's right," Robbie said, "And that was over two years ago, by now they _have_ to have repopulated their species, least of all a considerable amount."

"I know that, but that's not the point," Earl told them, "If I look back on the last few years, I had so many opportunities to _do_ something, to make a difference somewhere and try combating Mr. Richfield's evil plans for pure capital gain…and I never did…or if I did, it wasn't for long…if I ever went against the grain, I'd stick with it for a couple days, maybe a week…and then I always went crawling right back to him. 'Yes sir, Mr. Richfield'," Earl half heartedly saluted in remembrance, " 'You got it, Mr. Richfield', 'Yes, Mr. Richfield', and where's it gotten us? Closer to the brink of destruction, that's all I can think of."

"So what're you saying, Earl?" Fran asked.

Earl paused and scratched the top of his head and said, "I just know I'd feel better about this whole thing if there was some way we could make _sure_ WeSaySo couldn't kill the beetles and pave the swamp."

"What about taking the case to the Council of Elders?" Robbie suggested, "If they thought there was a basis to protecting the swamp, their ruling would overthrow anything Mr. Richfield tried."

Earl scratched under his chin and replied, "It might be worth a try, considering what we'd face in the alternative, I don't see we have much to lose, except my job."

"It's something to think about, in the morning," Fran said as she stood up, "Right now it's late, and everybody's tired. Let's go to bed." She turned to the kids and told them, "You two have school tomorrow."

"Right," Robbie and Charlene reluctantly agreed as they got up from the couch.

"Hold it _right there_ ," Earl turned to his two eldest children and told them, "You're not going _anywhere_ tomorrow, _or_ the next day. Come to think of it, you're both grounded for the whole weekend."

"What?" they both asked in disbelief.

"What for?" Robbie asked.

There was a long pause in the room and everyone looked to Earl, who looked dead set on holding his ground, then suddenly he dropped his posture and confessed, "I don't know." In his normal tone he added, "I figured the two of you had done something behind my back and I figured I could call your bluff." He put his hands on his hips and further told them, "But you're _still_ not going anywhere this weekend. You're going to stay _right here_ with us."

"Why not?" the kids wanted to know.

There was a shorter pause as Earl looked at them, then he answered, "Because I'm not done spending time with you yet."

"Oh," was their shocked response.

Earl told them, "I realize now how much time I wasted to do it…it was almost too late."

"Oh Daddy," Charlene went over to him.

Earl put his arms around his two eldest children and held them in a tight embrace.

"To think I almost missed this," he said as he looked towards the ceiling of the living room.

"Alright, kids," Fran told them, "It's time for everybody to go back to bed. We can talk about this in the morning."

"Right," they said as they pulled away from Earl and headed for the stairs.

"You too," Fran said as she headed over towards Baby.

"Awwww," he whined as she picked him up.

Fran turned to Earl and told him, "You better get some sleep too, Earl, especially if you meant what you just said about keeping the kids here all weekend and spending time with them."

"I do, Fran, I do," Earl told her, then shook his head, "But I'm not going to bed, I've got too many things to think about."

"What're you going to do then?" Fran asked, "You can't sit up all night."

"I might _just_ do that," he replied, "I want to be up when the sun comes up, and to _know_ that it comes up, to _see_ it come up and _know_ for sure that it _was_ just a dream…"

Fran looked at him like he was nuts, but she downplayed what she was thinking and said to him, "Alright, Earl, if that's what you want to do."

"It is," he nodded as he finally sat down in his chair, "Oh, Frannie…"

She turned around with Baby on her hip and asked him, "Yes, Earl?"

"Do you think you can find the receipt for that new grill I got?" Earl asked, "I think I'm going to take it back to the store in the morning and get our old one back." He looked over towards his mother-in-law and said to her, "Sometimes older _is_ better, isn't it, Ethyl?"

"Now you're starting to figure it out, Fat Boy," she told him, "Don't fix what's not broken."

Earl nodded, and said half to himself and half to see and Fran, "That's just about all progress is, isn't it? Trying to _improve_ what's already good enough. They _say_ it'll make all our lives much easier," he shook his head, "But they really don't, all they do is take our money and give us _one more thing_ to figure out what to do with it and where to put it, and then next year they come out with _another_ new model and tell us we need it too."

"What do you know?" Ethyl asked as she started to roll away in her chair, "For once he's starting to show signs of a brain."

"Mother!" Fran called after her as she wheeled herself into the kitchen. She looked at her husband and asked him, "Are you sure about this, Earl? Sitting up all night _just_ to watch the sun come up?"

"Fran," Earl said to her, "I don't expect you to understand this, but if you'd had the dream I did, _you'd_ want to see the sun too."

She still looked at him uncertainly but told him, "Alright, Earl, see you in the morning."

Earl gave a small wave and called after her, "'Night, Fran." Then he added, "Goodnight, Baby."

But Baby was already busily snoring away on his mama's shoulder.

Earl sat in the brightly lit and eerily quiet living room and looked around at everything. It had been quite some time since he could remember it being like this: still, quiet, no kids screaming, no phone calls, _no_ TV blaring away, and Earl decided, it would stay that way. He looked over at the remote but kept his hand out of reach of it. No TV tonight, gee, he never thought he'd hear himself say that before. But it was the truth. Instead, he just sat in his chair, alternated between looking out the windows and over to the clock above the mantel, and he waited, waited so desperately for the first signs of morning, to see that glorious sun rise up, to fully prove what intellectually he already knew, but deep in his heart he feared that his nightmare might still bear fruit to reality. Once that sun came up, _then_ , and _only_ then, he would know that things would be alright after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Charlene finished setting the places at the picnic table and went over to Fran, who was standing over the grill turning the food.

"Hey, Mom," she said, "When's lunch going to be ready?"

"Very soon, dear," Fran replied, "It should be ready about the same time your father gets done mowing the front lawn."

"Ha, yeah," Charlene said, "He's sure been busy today. He's been helping Robbie mow the front lawn for an hour now."

"It's interesting," Fran mused as she held the barbecue tongs under her chin, "Ever since your father had that nightmare, he's been a totally different dinosaur."

"I know," Charlene told her mother, "He never _made_ us stay home before. I'm _still_ not too happy about that."

"You can give your father _one_ weekend, Charlene," Fran told her daughter, "If it makes him feel better, then I think it's worth doing."

Charlene sighed and went to sit down.

Ethyl wheeled herself over to Fran and stopped just short of colliding with the old barbecue grill.

"I suppose it's only fair," she said, "He's already taken 20 years of your life you could've spent with an eligible doctor."

"Mother, please," Fran waved her off.

Charlene giggled at their conversation.

"Hungry!" Baby called from his high chair set by the picnic table, "Wanna eat!"

Fran turned and looked at Earl and Robbie coming up the driveway, "Here they come, we can get ready."

"Yay!" Baby cheered as he waved his short stubby arms.

Robbie reached over and patted his dad on the back and told him, "Nice work, Dad, and it only took two hours to get the yard done."

Earl walked alongside his son, panting to catch his breath and with sweat stains on his shirt up to his armpits and he said in between gasps, "Yeah that's one…chore…taken care of." Catching his breath and standing straighter he added, "I told you we could get done before lunch."

Fran turned the meat again and asked her husband, "How did it go, Earl?"

"Oh swell," he said as he picked up the pitcher of ice water off the picnic table and hosed himself off with it, "We got the whole yard looking showroom new, grass cut, weeds pulled, I think you'll be very pleased with it."

"I already am," Fran told him, "This is the first time in years you've done the lawn without me asking first."

"Yeah well," Earl said sheepishly, "I know it's something that you care about because I _remember_ all the times you asked."

"Well you're just in time, lunch is ready," Fran said, and announced to the others, "Okay everybody, dish up!"

One by one, everybody got a plate and helped themselves to burgers, hot dogs, potato chips, potato salad, salad and iced tea and sat down at the picnic table, Ethyl sat next to it in her wheelchair.

"Before we eat there's something I'd like to say," Earl announced to his family, and when he saw he had their full attention he told them, "I don't think any of you know how much this means to be, being able to sit here with my family and enjoy a good meal with them. It's a dream come true."

"Earl, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Fran asked, "Did you overdo it trying to mow the lawn?"

"No, Frannie, I'm fine," Earl said, "These last couple days I think I've just come to peace with what it is I really want out of life."

"What's that, Dad?" Robbie asked.

Earl looked to his kids and told them, "Look, right now the only priorities in you two's lives are teenage things, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for spending time with your family, I get that, believe it or not your mother and I were teenagers too once before we had kids. But I'm telling you this now, one of these days when you're grown up and married with kids of your own, you're going to realize one days you have a hatchling just out of their egg, and the next time you look your hatchling's going to be all grown up and out of the house and leaving you, and then you're going to be old and alone, and you'll cherish all those moments you had with your kids _when_ they wanted you around…and you'll regret all the other moments you didn't have with them because you were too busy or too distracted. I found that out just before it was too late. That's why I made you two stay home for the weekend. When you're both out of here, you'll have the rest of your lives to make plans with your friends, but I've only got a couple more years with you, and I don't plan to waste them anymore."

"Aww, Daddy," Charlene tilted her head to one side as they took in his words.

"No parent goes through everything they go through just to lose time they could've spent with their kids," Earl told them, "It's a 24 hour, largely thankless job…but it has its perks, and I ignored those perks for the longest time."

"We understand, Dad," Robbie said.

Earl looked at them and shook his head, "No you don't, but you will someday, when you realize you never took _your_ son fishing, or playing catch, and when you realize you don't know the first thing about your little girl because she's growing up and into boys, and you find yourself wondering where am I, and how did I get here?, because yesterday they were just little kids and you had all the time in the world to do everything with them you ever wanted to." There was a brief pause as nobody knew what to say, then Earl added, "But the good thing is there's still time to do _something_ about it. I'm all ears, what is it you guys would like to do?"

Robbie and Charlene looked at each other cluelessly.

"That's alright," Earl said, "You don't have to tell me now, just let me know when you think of something, if I'm asleep when it comes to you, wake me up."

"Let's eat, Earl," Fran said, "The food's going to get cold."

"Oh, absolutely, Fran," Earl said and looked at his plate, "Looks like you did a great job with the meat."

"Like I said," Ethyl said, "Don't fix what's not broken, Fat Boy."

Earl chuckled, "Yeah, you're right, Ethyl." He looked to his wife and told her, "Fran, after we eat I'm going to help you with the dishes."

"Huh?" she asked as her eyes bugged out.

"And then," he told her, "I want you to get the Baby packed up in his stroller, because I'm going to take him to the park for a walk."

"Goody!" Baby spoke up.

* * *

"Okay, let's see," Earl went through the Baby's room and tried to figure out what he might need during the walk, and picked things up as he went, "Rattle…pacifier…sun hat…diapers…" he still grimaced when he thought about the time he tried to change Baby's diaper for the first time, but he resolved to do better from now on, "And uh…oh, diaper wipes…and…" he picked up one of the Baby's stuffed toys, "Yeah, that's cute…hmmm," he turned around, "What else?"

"Earl," Fran came into the room, "What're you doing with all that?"

"Just getting everything for the Baby's walk," Earl said, "Where's the stroller?"

"Downstairs," she told him.

Baby groaned and flopped his head back in his crib.

"Well uh," Earl said, "Can you get this stuff loaded in the stroller and I'll bring Junior down?"

"Sure," Earl watched as Fran took the items from him, piece by piece, and organized them far better than he had, and carried everything out the door in a neat pile. Earl turned back to the Baby and told him, "Your mother, the genius. Okay, Junior, is there anything else you want to bring to the park?"

"Want story," Baby pointed to his bookshelf.

"Okay, we can do that," Earl said as he headed over, "Which one do you want?"

"That one," Baby pointed to one in the middle.

"Hmm?" Earl took a look and pulled out the selected volume, "If You Were A Tree, by B. Walter…" he turned to the Baby and asked, "Where'd you get this one?"

"Grandma," Baby answered.

"Heh, should've guessed," Earl said as he tucked it under one arm, and picked Baby up and carried him downstairs.

Once he and Fran got the Baby settled in his stroller, Fran asked him, "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"Nah, we'll be fine," Earl said, "I have some bonding time to make up for."

He pushed the stroller out the front door and up to the park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, but the park was empty. Earl couldn't figure out where everybody was. He found a bench to sit at and stopped the stroller, "Okay, Junior, let's take a look at that book."

Earl flipped to the first page and started reading, "Once upon a time in a land very much like this one, there lived a dinosaur who pushed down trees for a living…" Earl looked up from the book and pursed his eyebrows together, "Hmmm…" he shrugged and looked back at the page, "One day he and his friends were in a part of the forest they had never seen before…"

* * *

"There is a time when each of us shall return to the earth, this was the tree's time, but it was nature who decided so, nature, and not the dinosaur. The End." Earl closed the book and commented, "Wow." Then he looked at his son and said to him, "Powerful stuff, eh?"

"Good story!" Baby declared.

"Yeah," Earl nodded as he looked at the cover, "It is…I wonder why I never read it to you before."

"TV," Baby answered simply.

Earl did a double take and looked at his son. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds, then Earl slowly nodded and told him, "Yeah, sorry about that, Little Guy, I really have a lot to answer for, don't I?"

Baby's choice of answer was to hit Earl on the head with his juice bottle and reply, "Not the Mama!"

Earl let out a small laugh and replied, "Yeah, you got it. I know I haven't always been around, or had an interest in what you wanted to do…but that's going to change. So…what would _you_ like to do?"

Baby thought about it for a few seconds before loudly declaring, "Wanna go to beach, wanna catch leeches!"

Earl nodded, "Okay, we can do that." He sat and pondered for a moment and asked himself aloud, "I wonder if Robbie's still interested in learning to fish?" He looked at his younger son and told him, "I think I can get some vacation time off from work, at least until I figure out what to do. I've got a _lot_ of things to figure out right now, I just hope I can come up with the right answers."


End file.
